DART Encapsulation

Inside SpaceX’s Payload Processing Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, both halves of the Falcon 9 rocket’s protective payload fairing move toward NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft on Nov. 16, 2021. The payload fairing, with the spacecraft securely inside, will be attached to the top of the Falcon 9 and will protect the spacecraft during launch and ascent. DART is the first mission to test technologies for preventing an impact of Earth by a hazardous asteroid. The mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than 1:21 a.m. EST Wednesday, Nov. 24 (10:21 p.m. PST Tuesday, Nov. 23), from Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex 41. NASA's Launch Services Program based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, America's multi-user spaceport, is managing the launch.